diff --git a/src/charm.py b/src/charm.py
index 535fc71403..fbd513eb1a 100755
--- a/src/charm.py
+++ b/src/charm.py
@@ -463,6 +463,18 @@ def _on_peer_relation_changed(self, event: HookEvent) -> None:
             event.defer()
             return
 
+        # Restart the workload if it's stuck on the starting state after a timeline divergence
+        # due to a backup that was restored.
+        if not self.is_primary and (
+            self._patroni.member_replication_lag == "unknown"
+            or int(self._patroni.member_replication_lag) > 1000
+        ):
+            self._patroni.reinitialize_postgresql()
+            logger.debug("Deferring on_peer_relation_changed: reinitialising replica")
+            self.unit.status = WaitingStatus("reinitialising replica")
+            event.defer()
+            return
+
         self.postgresql_client_relation.update_read_only_endpoint()
 
         self.backup.check_stanza()
diff --git a/src/patroni.py b/src/patroni.py
index e83ada6495..0187633b4f 100644
--- a/src/patroni.py
+++ b/src/patroni.py
@@ -229,6 +229,26 @@ def primary_endpoint_ready(self) -> bool:
 
         return True
 
+    @property
+    def member_replication_lag(self) -> str:
+        """Member replication lag."""
+        try:
+            for attempt in Retrying(stop=stop_after_delay(60), wait=wait_fixed(3)):
+                with attempt:
+                    cluster_status = requests.get(
+                        f"{self._patroni_url}/cluster",
+                        verify=self._verify,
+                        timeout=5,
+                    )
+        except RetryError:
+            return "unknown"
+
+        for member in cluster_status.json()["members"]:
+            if member["name"] == self._charm.unit.name.replace("/", "-"):
+                return member.get("lag", "unknown")
+
+        return "unknown"
+
     @property
     def member_started(self) -> bool:
         """Has the member started Patroni and PostgreSQL.
@@ -259,6 +279,11 @@ def is_database_running(self) -> bool:
         # Check whether the PostgreSQL process has a state equal to T (frozen).
         return any(process for process in postgresql_processes if process.split()[7] != "T")
 
+    @retry(stop=stop_after_attempt(3), wait=wait_exponential(multiplier=1, min=2, max=10))
+    def reinitialize_postgresql(self) -> None:
+        """Reinitialize PostgreSQL."""
+        requests.post(f"{self._patroni_url}/reinitialize", verify=self._verify)
+
     def _render_file(self, path: str, content: str, mode: int) -> None:
         """Write a content rendered from a template to a file.